Church Street Station Train Begins Two Week Move to Its New Home
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
By: Whitney Hamrick

January 18, 2012 | WMFE - Some know it as the Orange Blossom Special, "Old Duke," or the train featured in John Wayne's "The Wings of Eagles," but thousands know it as the Church Street Station locomotive encapsulated in fun-filled family memories and tourist photos.

"Old Duke," the 100 year old train that sits at Church Street Station is en route to the Florida Rail Museum one car at a time.
 
The train sat idyll for generations as part of the historical tourist destination and has befallen decades of disrepair and vandalism.
 
Wednesday morning, the first passenger car will travel more than 100 miles to its new Parrish, Fla. home by freight truck where it will be joined by the proceeding dining car, coal hopper, and engine during a two week move.

The Central Florida SunRail project, which will break ground in Altamonte Springs on Jan. 27, will utilize the Church Street Station tracks for its mass transit rail system.
 
The move will cost up to $160,000 to make way for the $150 million SunRail project.
 
The train is one of the last landmarks to go from the Bob Snow era.  Snow was instrumental in developing Church Street Station as a near re-enactment of a Wild West saloon and train stop in the early 1980's. The train now joins Rosie O’Grady’s Good Time Emporium, Bumby Hardware, Buffalo Trading Company, and The Cheyenne Saloon as absent remnants of local identity.
 
Residents of Central Florida and interest parties alike may visit [ http://www.frrm.org/ ] for more information.